Overview

The Ontology of the Mother-in-Law develops a political ontology of the “mother-in-law” as a neglected yet decisive figure of power beyond the classical opposition between father and mother, law and exception, state and civil society. While feminist critique traditionally identifies the father as the sole (evil) political Subject—law, sovereignty, universality—critical theory from Hegel to Lacan and Derrida reveals that this figure is internally barred by its feminine other. Drawing on Agamben and Lacan, Suheyb Ö?üt’s new book argues that this dialectic remains insufficient, since it overlooks a third position: the constitutive exception, where woman turns into law (father) itself. This trans figure corresponds not just to the “state of exception” but also the very deep state mechanism in which phallic and hegemonic powers are intertwined. The mother-in-law names this hybrid power that operates neither through direct coercion nor ideological hegemony, but through implicit intrusion and arbitrariness. Analyzing contemporary Turkish sociology (Kemalism, the headscarf debate, the deep state, leftwing politics, sexuality, gender and academic politics) and global sociology, The Ontology of the Mother-in-Law claims that understanding modern power requires grasping this cruel, trans-ontological position that permeates both family and politics.

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9781680536126

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Suheyb Ö?üt was born in Mecca in 1982. He studied Political Science at Istanbul Bilgi University and completed there a Cultural Studies M.A. program he had begun at Sabanc? University with a thesis titled Pornography and Veiling: Two Differentials of Sovereignty. Following sustained mobbing at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, he withdrew from the Sociology Ph.D. program there and transferred to Y?ld?r?m Beyaz?t University, where he completed his doctoral dissertation, Leviathan as the Symptom of Being. His doctoral dissertation was published by Academica Press under the title Being and Symptom: The Intersection of Sociology, Lacanian Psychoanalysis, and Continental Philosophy. During his doctoral studies, he also received a classical theology education. For nearly ten years, he has given seminars on philosophy, sociology, psychoanalysis, and film analysis for various civil society organizations. He is currently a faculty member in the Department of Sociology at Marmara University in Istanbul.

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